Planet Walt

suburban surprises

On Saturday V wanted to see Pan's Labyrinth, which was only playing in two places that night. Since neither of us likes The Lagoon Theater very much, we decided to trek 20 miles to Maple Grove. I thought we were going to a relatively new stadium-seating gigaplex, but was surprised to find that the movie was playing at a much older place a couple of blocks away. Once inside, I was greeted with a couple of additional surprises. First, tickets were only $3 each, and I got a large popcorn and small Coke for just $8. Second, in the small crowd was a male/female couple who left a seat empty between them (!). Now, I know why two guys would do this (the "not gay seat," to use the non-vulgar expression), but a man and a woman? If they were on a date they would, of course, be next to each other, and if friends they would be comfortable with close contact. Ah, maybe that points us in the right direction: they are in limbo as friends vs. something else, so the guy wanted to signal that he was not interested in the something else? Whatever the case, it was weird.